Machine for spinning and winding silk



(No Model.)

H. E. OONANT.

MAGHINE FOR SPINNING AND WINDING SILK.

No. 404,171. I Patented May 28, 1889.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HIRAM E. CONANT, OF STONINGTON, CONNECTICUT.

MACHINE FOR SPINNING AND WINDING SILK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 404,171, dated May 28, 1889.

Application filed Iliay 31, 1887.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HIRAM E. CONANT, residing at Stonington, in the county of New London and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Illa-chines for Spinning and Winding Silk; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in machines for throwing, twisting, or spinning silk, the object being to provide them with take-up attachments eombinin g the functions of taking up the slack produced by stopping the work, placing the silk under more perfect control as to its tension than has heretofore been done, and signaling its breakage to the attendant.

With these ends in view my invention consists in certain details of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

I11 the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in transverse section showing one form which my improvement may assume, together with the immediate connections of the feeding and receiving bobbins, the full lines representing the normal or elevated position of the take-up and the broken lines illustrating it in its depressed position; and Fig. 2 is a broken view in front elevation, simply showing portions of the several wires and one of the take-ups from which the silk has been removed.

The feeding-bobbin A is carried by a spindle, B, provided with a small grooved pulley, C, receiving a band, D, driven by a large pulley, E, whereby the bobbin is driven at a very high speed. The receiving-bobbin F is located above and to the rear of the said feeding-bobbin, and is rotated at a slower speed than the same is rotated by a pulley, G,1ocated behind it. A horizontal beam, H, located in front of the receiving-bobbin, carries a small distributing-roller, I, which the silk passes over on its way to the said bobbin. Each machine is provided with a long row of such feeding and receiving bobbins, relatively arranged as shown. A suspension-wire, J, a silk supporting and guiding wire, K, lo-

cated in front of the same, a drop-detent Serial No. 239,736. (No'modeL) wire, L, located below the suspension-wire, and a lift-detent and silk-supporting wire, M, located above the suspension-wire, are arranged parallel with and located between the said rows of bobbins. The ends of these wires, which correspond in length to the said rows, are secured to suitable frames located at the ends of the machine and not shown. Short sleeves N, having their ends bored out and respectively threaded in opposite directions, are interposed in the wires for regulating their tension, the adjacent ends of the wires being thereto properly threaded.

A movable gravity take-up is provided for each pair of bobbins, consisting of a feedingbobbin and its corresponding receiving-bobbin. Each of these take-ups is made of a single piece of wire, and consists of a straight body portion, 0, a spring-coil, P, located at one end thereof and adapting it to be suspended from the suspension-wire and preventing it from being deflected thereupon, and two parallel arms, Q and R, extending in the same direction, and each provided at its outer end with a hook, S, adapting them to engage with the silk on its way to the receiving-bobbin, the said arms being separated to give clearance between them to the lift-detent wire, which is located in the arc in which they move. These take-ups are so constructed and the wires so arranged that when the take-ups are in their normal or elevatedpositions the wire M will be virtually included between their arms Q and R. The silk-supporting wires are also arranged above the suspension-wire. A pair of small collars, T, is provided for each take-up. They are mounted on the wire J at the opposite ends of the coil P, and prevent the take-up from lateral movement 011 the wire.

In using my improvement the silk is led from the feeding-bobbin over the silk supporting and guiding wire K, then through the hook S of the arm Q of the take-up, then over the wire M, then through the hook S of the arm Rof the take-up, then over the distributing-roller I, and thence to the receiving-bobbin.

lVhen the machine is in full operation, the bobbins rotate at a very high rate of speed and impose sufficient tension on the silk passin from the feeding to the receiving bobbin to support the take-up in a normally-clevated position, in which, however, it exerts a eon stant tendency to drop down and draw the silk down on opposite sides of the combined lift-detent and silk-supporting wire and below the silk supporting and guiding wire in the form of two long independent loops, so that any fluctuations in the amount of silk thrown from the feeding-bobbin or wound upon the recciving-bobbin will be automatically met and compensated for by the dropping ot' the take-up, whereby the virtual distance between the two bobbins will be increased exactly in proportion to the amountot' slack to be taken up. This action of the take-up not only preserves the silk at a uniform tension, but also prevents it from snarling. \Vhen the frame is stopped, the feeding-bobbin, by reason of the inertia acquired when it is running, does not stop the moment the power is cut on, but makes a few turns and throws oil a few coils of silk before its inertia is overcome. Under my invention the slack so produced is at once taken up or absorbed by the takeup, which drops virtually into the position indicated by the broken lines of liig. l of the drawings, where it is shown as resting upon the drop-detcnt wire, which 1 )rev( :nts it from swinging so far under the carrying-wire as not to be readily lifted again by the strand. It will be noted that when the take-up is in this position the virtual distance between the two bobbins is very largely increased. \Vhen the machine is started again, the tension imposed upon the strand by the reeeiving-bobbin at once operates to lift the take-up to its normal position, the lil't-dctent wire preventing it from being lil'tcd too far or to a point from which it will not readily fall back.

lly taking up, as described, the slack produced by stopping the machine, the product of the operation, whether the same be that of throwing, spinning, or twisting, will be free t'rom those knots and kinks which are found to an extent in all silk made underprevailing modes of handling it, the torsion of the silk operating to twist and kink it, when endwisc tension is relieved, in such manner that when the tension is reapplied it will not straighten out, but knot and snarl. Knots and snarls so formed may be cut out with much labor; but other knots are produced in uniting the strand again, and the fabric produced cannot be so Fair and clear as with silk made under myinvention.

The formation of two long independent loops under my invention adapts the take-up itself to compensate for these variations and eccentricities in feeding which have heretofore required a momentary interruption of feeding or astoppage of the machine for their correction.

In case the silk breaks, the take-up at once drops onto the drop-detent wire, and so advises the attendant of the breakage, which is of d i flicu lt detection without some such visual signal, and. especially if the light is not good, or by artificial light, on account of: the extreme fineness of the silk in this stage of workin g it.

It is apparent that some changes and alterations may be made in the construction shown and described, and i would have it understood that I do not limit myself to such construction, but hold myself at liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

I am aware that stops and take-ups are not new in tevtile machinery. I do not, iherel'ore, claim stops or take-ups, broadly; but,

llaving fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a machine for making silk, the combination, with a silk supporting and guiding wi re located between a wi 1 l d i ng-o ['l and a wi 11 ding-up device, a suspension-wire located. below the said silk supporting and guiding wire, a lift-detent wire located above the suspension-wire, a gravity take-up constructed and hung so as to swing tree of all obstrmrtion on the suspension-wire and having two silk-engaging arms separated to give clearance between them to the litt-detent wire, which is located in the arc in which the take-up moves, and a drop-detont wire located below the susnsnsionavire in the said are, all of the said wires being parallel and the take-up being free to swing between the limits oi the lift and drop detent wires, substantially as set forth.

2. In a machine for making silk, the combination, with a silk supporting and guiding wire located between a wind ing-ollf and awinding-up device, a sus iension-wire located below the said silk supporting and guiding wire, aliiit-detent wire located above the suspension-wire, a gravity take-up made of wire coiled to form a wide eye receiving the suspension-wire and bent to form two silk-engaging arms, which are separated to give clearancebetween them to the li tt-detent w i re, which is located in. the arc in which the takcup moves, a drop-detent wire located below the suspensioirwire in the said are, and two collars mount-ed on the suspension-wire on opposite sides of the eye of the take-up, which they hold in place, all of the said wires being parallel and the take-up being free to swing IIO between the limits of the lift and drop (lettmt wires, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence ottwo subscribing witnesses.

JIIRAM 1E. (,ONAN'I.

Witnesses:

(ii-ms. 1;. suonwav, lr'iimmn .T. T, on. 

